Sharp County record., 1887-06-30


ibot vav His voice comes down TO you
this day-comes down to the oiinueS'' ~
the deafest SOUL saying:
Look unto me, all ye ends OF the eartn, anu
be We saved, for am God, and there Is h0n0
else.
proclamation of universal emanclpa-
+ion for all slaves. Proclamation Oh uni
versal amnesty for all rebels. Ahasue,u'
gathered the Babylonlsh nooles 10 us
fable: George l. entertaine the iorus u
England at banquet; Napoleon Ill wei
coined the Car of Russia ana the oulVa'.
of Turkey to his feast; the Emperor oi
Germany was glad to have our MinisVer,
George Bancroft, sit down win MN q.
his table; but tell me, ye who know most
of tbe worlds history, what other KING
over asked the abandoned, and the lor-
Iorn and the wretched, and the outcast,
IN come and sit down beside him' on'
wonderfulinvitationi You can take IL TO-
dav, and stand at the head Of the darkest
alley in this city, and say:
Come! Clothes for your rags, salVe lor Soa'
sores athrone for your eternal regnihg;
A Christ that talks like that ana acUo
like that and pardons like that-do you
wonder that Stephen stood looking a'
him, Ihope to spend eternity doing the
same thing. I must see him. L must
look unon that face once clouded with my
sin. but now radiant with my paraeh,
want to touch that hand tna'
knocked off my shackles. want to near
that voice which pronounced my deliver.
ance, Behold him, little children 1or Il
Won live to three score years and ten you
viii see none so fair. Behold him, ye
aged ones, for he only can shine through
the dimness of our failing eyesight' BE-
hold him, earth Behold him, Heaven:
What moment when all the nations Oh
the saved shall gather around ChrisVi
All faces that way. All thrones thaU
way, gazing on Jesus.
His worth II all the nations knsT,
Sure the whole earth would love Him, too.
mass on now, and look at Stephen
stoned, The world has always wanted 10
oct rid of good men. Their very life IS
an assault upon wickedness. Out with
Stephen through the gates OF the CITY.
Down with him over the precipices' Let
every man come and drop a stone upon
his head But these men did not so much
kill Stephen as they killed themselves
Every stone rebounded upon them'
While these murderers were trans
fixed by the scorn OF all good
men, Stephen lives in the admira-
tion of all Christendom. stephen
stoned, but Stephen alive So sll good
men must be pelted. All who Will i've
godly in Christ Jesus must suffer perse-
cution. 1t is no eulogy OF a man to say
that every body likes him. Show me one
who is doing all his duty to State or
Church, and will show you scores OF men
who utterly abhor him
II all men speak well OF you IT IS De-
cause you are either laggard or dolt
If a steamer makes rapid progress
through the waves the water will Doll ana
foam all around it. Brave soldiers OF
Jesus Christ will hear the carbine's click
When / see man with voice, and money,
and influence all on the right side, and
soms caricature him, and some sneer at
him, and some denounce him, and men
who pretend to be actuated by right mo-
tives conspire to cripple him, to cast him
out, to destroy him, / say: "Stephen
stonedn
When see man in some great moral
or religious form battling against grog-
shops, exposing wickedness in high
places, by active means trying to purify
the church and better the worlds estate,
and Innd tnaG the new spa1,oro a~-thoiHdt-
ize him, and men, even good men, oppose
L 4 hi m bacnuaa though he
does good, he does not do 1T in their way,
say: stephen ston ed"
The world, with in nfinite spite, took after
John Frederick Oberlin, and Robert Moi
fat, and Paul and Stephen Of the text.
But you notice, my friends. that while
they assaulted him they did not succeed
really in killing him. You may assault a
good man, but you can not kill him. TN
the day of his death Stephen spoke be-
fore few people in the Sanhedrim; this
Sabbath morning he addresses all Cnrls'
tendon. Paul the apostle stood on Mars
Hill addressing a handful Of philosophers,
who knew not so much about science
as a modern schoolgirl To-day he talks
to all the millions Of Christendom about
the wonders of justification and the
glories of resurrection. John Wesley
was howled down by the mob to whom he
preached, and they threw bricks at him,
and they denounced him, and they jostled
him, and they spat upon him, and yet to-
day, in all lands, he is admitted to be the
great father of Methodism. Booths bull
let vacated the Presidential chair, but
from that spot Of coagulated blood on the
floor in the box of Ford's Thoater there
sprang up the new life of nation.
Stephen stoned, but Stephen alive
Pass on now and see Stephen in his
dying prayer. His first thought was not
how the stones hurt his head, nor what
became of his body. His first thought
was about his spirit.
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit
The murderer standing on the trap
door, the black cap being drawn over his
head before the execution, may grimace
about the future; but you and / have no
shame in confessing some anxiety about
where we are going to come out You are
not all body. There is within you soul.
see it CLEAN from your eyes to-day, and
l see it irridlating your countenance.
Sometimes l am abashed before an audi
ence, not because / am under your phys
ical eyesight, but because l realize the
truth that stand before so many immor-
tai spirits. The probability is that your
body will at last find sepulture in
some of the cemeteries that surround
this city. There Is no doubt but that
your obsequies will be decent and
and you will be able to
pillow your head under the maple, or the
Norway spruce, or the cypress, or the
bossoming fire but this spirit about
which Stephen prayed, what direction